By Tania Phillips
France loves its rugby so its hardly surprising that one of the hottest tickets for the Paris Olympics is for the Sevens and one of the stars is Stanthorpe’s own Charlotte Caslick OAM.
The 29-year-old three-time Olympian and her team are in France already preparing to take centre stage (and possibly bring home a second medal).
Winners in Rio, the team finished out of medals at the disrupted Tokyo Games but is hoping to do better in front of the big Paris crowd according to her dad
Don despite some setbacks.
“It’s certainly a bit more exciting than the lead-up to Tokyo that’s for sure,” he said.
“We’re going over; we’re flying out next Saturday. They are already in France, they are in Montpellier they arrived there on 10 July, I think they have two weeks there before they move into the village.
“I think they are upbeat. They’ve had a lot of disruption, but I think generally they’ve put that behind them, they’re excited and looking forward to getting out there.
“They’ve lost four of their players with serious knee injuries this year and all four of them were potentially should have been in that 12 that went away. It’s a fairly big loss and two of them are two of the best players in the world. If they had them, they’d be looking red hot but they’re still looking good.
“It’s probably building up from the let down of losing some of those girls and getting over it and getting their heads around the combinations they have to put together now to get the best result.”
With the team the winning final event in the world series, he believes they will be confident of getting things right and now looking forward to a possible final against arch rivals New Zealand – though they may have to face home team France before they can get there.
“The way the draw has panned out if everyone plays to seed and there’s no significant upsets, I would think there most challenging game will the semi-final, which is likely to be France,” he said.
“France at home with a crowd of 60-70,000 people at Stade de France could be a pretty wild experience for the girls – it’s one they’re looking forward to though. They are really excited about the prospect of playing France at home. You get through France and then you have New Zealand potentially in the final and they’re their biggest rival of course.”
After the Australian success in Rio, it was New Zealand that won the Tokyo gold medal ahead of France and Fiji, with the Australians coming in fifth; something they won’t be keen to repeat.
And while the whole team is excited about the prospect of the Olympic Games, as captain and three-time Olympian, Charlotte – the event is extra special.
“She’s excited about being captain and about the girls she’s got, she has enjoyed it,” he said.
“I don’t know if it’s changed her game that much because even from when she was 21 she was the leader on the field anyway. The playmaker. Not a lot of that’s change. It’s been about letting the girls express themselves, they were probably held back a bit in Tokyo, but they’ve really come out of their shell and Charlotte’s loved being around that.”
As the Rugby Seven’s program is based in Sydney and her parents are based between Stanthorpe and Brisbane, the trip to France will give the family a chance to cheer her on.
Though with talk and lobbying for women’s rugby’s being changed to Ballymore in Brisbane she could be a lot closer to home. Rugby Australia have moved the women’s high-performance unit to Ballymore.
“It probably goes without saying that the women’s sevens should be part of that, she’d love to be back at Ballymore – fingers crossed,” her father said.
With the Olympics in Brisbane in 2032 it is likely to be something that will be considered in the future particularly given the Rugby Sevens is likely to be one of the biggest events.
“Apparently it’s the second fastest selling events in Paris,” he said.
“The French love it. They love the game. Even the Aussie girls they have a huge supporter base in France. They get messages all the time wishing the best but hoping they’ll come second.”
